The gripping tale of a young man who leaves all that he has and goes to live amidst the natural world, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer showcases the two years Christopher McCandless had spent journeying throughout the United States before his unfortunate death. After graduating from Emory University in 1990, McCandless disconnected with all of his past relations and abandoned the majority of his possessions. McCandless’ decisions either seem extremely unwise or extremely courageous. He had a comfortable life with few worries yet he still chose to toss it all away and venture into unknown territories. What many wonder is why he would do such an irrational thing. Maybe, McCandless’ was simply trying to run away from his perception of reality. …show more content…
Besides his views on “mainstream American life” (52), Christopher McCandless had strong convictions of issues beyond America. Racial oppression and widespread hunger particularly fueled him and he made several attempts to make a difference for both issues. During high school he would talk to his friends about smuggling weapons into South Africa to end apartheid (113) and after he finished university, he donated the remaining $24,000 from his education fund to OXFAM America, a charity dedicated to fighting hunger (20). His desire to end those issues of racism and hunger may have diminished once he perceived how ambitious his desire really was. Perhaps it was the feeling of not making a difference in what he was truly passionate about that drove McCandless to run away and escape from essentially being insignificant. He was driven away from the comfort of his life by the discomforts of the world around him; McCandless was not happy with the state of both his local society and the distant world and decided he could only find solace by venturing out into the wilderness. Not only was he running away from a foolish society and unfair world, but also was running away from the banality his life had presented to him. Christopher McCandless was a young man who had just graduated from university and was faced with the distressing reality of living a mundane life. Rather than succumb to the safe route of attaining a stable job and
Although we see America as the land of the free, McCandless still feels entrapped. He did not venture out ignorantly, because he has a sense of where to go. The dream was to live among the wilderness in Alaska. Despite the decision to migrate, Chris had nothing to lose. He is a man
McCandless lead a mostly enjoyable life; he was born into a considerably rich and high end family, and received outstanding grades through his years in school. He was well liked, and built up a motivated and optimistic persona, yet despite this, he decided to abandon his life and reach for “an endlessly changing horizon”(57). His life, while possibly seen as luxury by
An outstanding young man, helped the poor, in high school participated in cross-country, intelligent. He was healthy, he sang and performed instruments. Moreover, all that was mentioned, for Christopher, wasn’t enough. He had still a need; a necessity that required discovering in a way outside the commonplace, the wonders, mysteries and obstacles that nature has with it. Thus one day, Christopher McCandless, a newly graduated college student without preambles got rid of his belongings and money in bank accounts. Without giving even a note of warning to his parents and friends, he simply disappeared from society and no one knew what happened to him. It took a lot of courage, to be willing to leave
Chris McCandless was a very educated person who wanted to go to Alaska. He gave away his trust fund to a charity it was around $25,000 that he donated. He came from a wealthy family, but only saw money as a dangerous object. McCandless didn’t tell his family that he was leaving so it was a really big surprise that he left. He drove his old rusty car as far as it would get him and then he started walking. Chris McCandless did not have a purpose of why he wanted to go to Alaska. McCandless was going to do whatever it took to get where he needed to go. When he started his journey he burned the rest of his
McCandless was determined to runaway from all material things. He drove off to the west leaving his car, belongings, and his identity. Krakauer writes “He could simply abandon the Datsun and resume his odyssey n foot and that's what he decided to do”(29).He did not underestimate himself very often, if he had one objective to achieve he had to accomplish
The story of a young man’s journey, told through interviews and acquired letters and journal entries, is interpreted and analyzed by Jon Krakauer in his novel Into the Wild. Chris McCandless, the combatant of his own story, embarks on an adventure around America after graduating from Emory University. When McCandless finds himself in the Alaskan wilderness with only a rifle, ten pounds of rice, a camera, and a few extra books and journals, he dies of starvation after a mere four months. In the novel, Krakauer successfully uses concrete diction to create complex sentences, apostrophes, and anecdotes to analyze the few interactions McCandless has leading up to his death and to drive the reader to question the role of an individual in society and if Chris McCandless deserves his eventual death.
Immediately after graduating college Chris decides to leave all of his possessions behind and give all his money away to charities and venture off into the wilderness of Alaska. The thing that McCandless wants most in his life is to be free with nature and live off the land and not be sucked into society. Throughout his story chris meets lots of people who help shape his life and give him assistance in his voyage to freedom. In the book Chris says “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change
The fascinating story of Christopher Mccandless, inspires many kids my age to follow in his footsteps and adventure out in the world. In my opinion, Mccandless, was not very inspiring to me. This is because he disobeyed his loyal parents and went off without notifying anyone. However, I can see why several people find his story quite breath taking. Throughout the novel, Mccandless, abandons his items and travels by land without proper gear or food. This gives me a representation of how hard he must have worked in order to hunt for food or survive in the coldest of days. By giving the readers a visual of how he lived, it made us believe that it is possible to survive outdoors with nothing but a creative mind. Another point the book pointed out to me, was the fact that some people respected him by giving him rides city to city, while other people ignored him and moved along and left him alone. Mccandless, also had a bright and fun spirit through all of the obstacles he faced. He may have been starving, but he continuously tried to look at the brighter sides of the problems.
To understand the reasons why Chris McCandless proceeded with his actions, one must know his personal background. Chris grew up in a wealthy family, raised by his highly educated parents. He became very passionate about his schoolwork and read several novels from Leo Tolstoy and Henry David Thoreau. While attending Emory University, McCandless was seen by others as a man with a promising future. Even though he was wealthy and successful, however, he was still unhappy with his personal life. Chris’s family was constantly fighting, which motivated Chris
In the book Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer tells the fascinating story of a man named Christopher Johnson McCandless and the journey he takes around the U.S and Canada. McCandless’ journey is not just a another hitchhiker who started out with nothing. Christopher or “Alex” believed in not allowing important things to over run a person’s way of living. He abandoned everything, his beloved car, all the money he had from his college fund, and his family. Krakauer illustrates the impact McCandless left on many people’s lives and explained in great detail the journey “Alex” decided to take.
Chris McCandless is an intelligent young man with major traits of stubbornness and determination. He had grown up in an affluent neighborhood of Washington, D.C., where he was able to succeed both in academics and athletics. With such ambition to succeed and desire to live by his own moral code, the clear
Each year, thousands of people travel to numerous places, planning to change their way of life. These travelers display change in their lifestyles. Several individuals change their names to hide their true identity, and become minimalists. Others leave their society to deviate away from their true lives. Chris McCandless, in John Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, followed a similar pattern. McCandless was known to travel to “go off the grid”. He would often travel in the summer and return home before leaving to attend Emory University in the fall. McCandless traveled to Alaska, extremely unprepared and never returned. Several have questioned if McCandless went into the wild to go “off the grid”, to prove to himself and others that he
At first, Chris McCandless attempted to return to a life of normality. In Bullhead City, Arizona, McCandless found a job working at McDonald’s. With this job, Chris almost deserted his original plans and stayed in Bullhead City, but the job required socks and a clean manner. Chris did not believe in these things, and the bearing normality forced Chris to quit his job and return to his plans of going into the Alaskan Wilderness (Krakauer, 38-41). When Chris McCandless was about to leave into the Alaskan Wilderness, he encountered Jim Gallien. Jim Gallien was a man who knew the dangers of the bush and how treacherous the land can be. McCandless didn’t want any supplies or help Gallien had to offer, but Gallien was pleading for McCandless to take the supplies that would help him. Chris McCandless did not know how far he should push his judgement on how life should be lived, further worsening his circumstances in the wilderness without many supplies (Krakauer, 4-8, 164-166 and 189). Chris McCandless did not know when to turn back home and mentally, could not overcome a dangerous task. McCandless, “Satisfied, apparently, with what he had learned during his two months of solitary life in the wild, McCandless decided to return to civilization…” (Krakauer, 168). This thought came with an over challenging obstacle, the Teklanika River was a raging water source that was difficult to pass, and McCandless was stuck on what to do. With a weak swimming ability, McCandless decided to turn back rather than crossing the dangerous waters, thus isolating him in the wilderness, leading to his death (Krakauer, 168-170). In addition to constant internal conflicts, McCandless had numerous conflicts with nature along his journey that lead to his
McCandless was a wealthy son from the East Coast. His father seemed to expect a lot from him and wanted him to do something great with his life. His parents put
McCandless displays he lives more off of the thrill of independence than he does working with others; this hints towards McCandless being an individual whose great desire would to be secluded from civilization where he can only rely on